Completing the first phase of light rail transit on time and on budget, as well as starting on the second phase, will be Jim Watson’s top priority if he’s re-elected as mayor.

Along with his unsurprising pledge on Sunday, Watson addressed other mayoral candidates by saying pressing the “reset button” of the city’s LRT plans “is not acceptable.”

Watson said the city has finished 60 per cent of downtown tunnel excavation needed for the $2.1-billion Confederation Line, due to be fully operational by 2018. He said the city has already put a lot of time and money into the second phase, which would bring LRT to the suburbs, and still requires funding being secured from upper levels of government.

“Once you’ve consulted, once you’ve planned, budgeted and decided, you need to move forward,” Watson said. “I’m troubled by suggestions that we could simply go back to the drawing board.”

Mike Maguire, one of seven candidates challenging Watson, has said he wants to scrap the second phase of LRT in favour of using existing rail lines for a commuter-style service. Maguire will release the details of his idea on Monday morning and Watson said he’ll fully respond to his competitor’s idea afterward.

“I really don’t know what his plan is,” Watson said.

Transit is a top priority for Ottawa voters, according to a Forum Research Poll released last week. The poll of 1,096 voters, which had a three-per-cent margin of error, found three quarters of people think expanding light-rail transit to the west, south and east is a key civic initiative.

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